Membership
IIAC meets quarterly and publishes the minutes of its meetings on GOV.UK. You can also read more about its members here.
Our members
Dr Lesley Rushton OBE, Chair
Emeritus Reader in Occupational Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Imperial College London
Appointed to 31 March 2025
Professor John Cherrie
Emeritus Professor, School of Engineering & Physical Sciences, Heriot Watt University; Associate, Institute of Occupational Medicine
Appointed to 31 October 2028
Lesley Francois
Ms Francois is an independent member with legal expertise. She is a Magistrate with the Ministry of Justice and a Justice of Peace on the Family Panel. Lesley holds membership of the Law Society’s Personal Injury Panel, and the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers where she is accredited with Senior Litigator Status, Occupational Disease Specialist Status, Asbestos Disease Specialist Status.
Appointed to 31 August 2029
Dr Sally Hemming
Health and Wellbeing Lead at EY, UKI; Associate Wellbeing Services, Robertson Cooper, Northern Trust and JP Hemming Ltd
Appointed to 3 January 2028
Dr Max Henderson
Associate Professor, University of Leeds and Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist, St James’ University Hospital, Leeds
Appointed to 31 October 2028
Dr Richard Heron
Independent Chief Medical Officer and Managing Director at Heron Health Consulting Ltd; Honorary Professorial Fellow, Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Nottingham Medical School; Honorary Teacher, Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Manchester
Appointed to 3 January 2028
Dr Jennifer Hoyle
Dr Hoyle is an independent member with expertise in respiratory diseases. She is a Consultant Physician at North Manchester General Hospital and the Clinical Lead for the Strategic Clinical network for Respiratory and Long COVID in Greater Manchester. Jennifer is a Member of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.
Appointed to 1 September 2019
Dr Ian Lawson
Retired Occupational Health Physician and formerly, Chief Medical Officer, Rolls-Royce plc
Appointed to 31 October 2026
Professor Damien McElvenny
Principal Epidemiologist, Institute of Occupational Medicine and Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Manchester
Appointed to 30 November 2026
Stephen Mitchell
Deputy Head of Legal Services and Data Protection Officer, Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers Union
Appointed to 3 January 2028
Daniel Shears
Mr Shears is a representative of employed earners. He is the National Health, Safety and Environment Director with the GMB Trade Union. Daniel also holds membership on the Health and Safety Executive Industry Advisory Committees, including the Construction Industry Advisory Committee and Paper and Board Industry Advisory Committee, and the TUC’s Union Health and Safety Specialists Committee.
Appointed to 31 August 2029
Dr Chris Stenton
Locum Consultant Physician, Royal Victoria Infirmary
Appointed to 31 October 2028
Dr Sharon Stevelink
Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience and National Institute for Health and Care Research; Advanced Fellow, Department of Psychological Medicine and King’s Centre for Military Health Research at King’s College London
Appointed to 3 January 2028
Dr Gareth Walters
Consultant in respiratory medicine, occupational and interstitial lung disease, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Clinical lead, Regional NHS occupational lung disease service, Birmingham Chest Clinic and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer in occupational and environmental medicine, University of Birmingham
Appointed to 30 October 2026
Register of interests
Read the Register of members’ interests.
Recruitment of members
The Commissioner for Public Appointments regulates all appointments to IIAC. The appointments are made in accordance with the Governance Code for Public Appointments published by the government.
Vacancies are published on the Public Appointments website as a minimum.
Our meetings and minutes
IIAC meetings
April 2020: Meeting cancelled due to coronavirus (COVID-19)
IIAC Research Working Group (RWG) meetings
Archived minutes
Read earlier meeting minutes on The National Archives website.
IIAC public meetings
IIAC also hold annual public meetings. Read the IIAC public meeting minutes.
Our secretariat
The council doesn’t have any staff of its own but DWP provides a small secretariat team.
- Head of Secretariat: Stuart Whitney
- Scientific Advisor: Ian Chetland
- Administrative Secretary: Catherine Hegarty